Target
by leafpaws
Summary: Jeremie's always been the ostracized one, and it's going to take a little time for him to adjust to having new friends. Early in the series.


He was a target, he knew.

For one, he was outrageously smart. That wasn't a bad thing, necessarily; it was both a vice and a virtue. He excelled in every class he took, and he had even managed to skip two grades and remain at the top. Only a few subjects caught him off-guard- foreign languages, physical education, art. He liked being smart. It worked well with his hobbies, building robots and tampering with computer software.

The problem came about with the fact that being highly intelligent drew the attention of others. Again, not a terrible outcome, but this is where the second issue came into play.

He was horrible at socializing. By no means was he a conversationalist or a socialite- at best, he was a wallflower. At the worst, he was a blubbering, stuttering mess that couldn't get his point across to others. And in the middle, where he typically remained, he was cold and standoffish.

Sure, having zero friends but the attention of his classmates didn't set his fate in stone. But his appearance did.

Being young, he was obviously short, and although many boys had only just started this process, he had a long ways to go before his body started filling out. If it ever did, that was. With his fast metabolism, his poor eating habits, and his difficulties in anything physical, he sincerely believed he'd be scrawny forever. A severe case of myopia rendered him bespectacled, and behind those lenses were a pair of mismatched eyes, one blue and one green. At least it wasn't something terribly noticeable, like a dark brown eye and a blue eye, but it was enough to make him feel self-conscious when his glasses were gone, so contacts were out of the picture.

He dressed simply and for comfort. Khaki capris, a blue sweater, and blue-gray moccasins fulfilled both of those qualities.

Put shortly, he dressed like a nerd. The fact that he acted like one, was one, and had zero allies to back him up...

Well, he'd always been a target. Then, the bullying had gotten so severe that he'd come home with bruises and broken glasses, and his parents transferred him to Kadic Academy.

He'd anticipated similar treatment once he'd arrived. At least he hadn't a roommate to trouble him- a lucky coincidence, since he'd been transferred in the middle of the year.

But at Kadic, things were great! He was ignored, sure, but that meant he wasn't picked on, and he liked to be alone to work on his own projects, anyways.

It didn't mean he didn't get lonely every now and again, though, and it never stopped the longing and sometimes jealous glances he would cast to the rambunctious groups at lunch. He sat alone, and ate alone, as well; most of the time he'd just bring his lunch up to his room, but there were times when the background noise of others talking helped the gnawing loneliness.

But again, he was used to it. It was life for him.

And then he'd found the factory. The lab stowed away beyond the encoded elevator, the beautiful, beautiful mainframe of the quantum computer.

Lyoko. Aelita. XANA.

Ulrich Stern was the first one who caught interest with the whole super computer thing after defending him from a few bouts of possessed machinery (Although at the time, they'd considered them malfunctions. How wrong they had been...). He hadn't been well acquainted with the boy, but he treated him kindly, and as such, he was quickly approved in Jeremie's eyes.

Odd Della Robbia was... interesting, he supposed. His extravagance and endless energy made him amicable enough, but he could go without the playful teasing. Even so, with Ulrich came Odd, so he tolerated him.

For a long time, he was apathetic towards Yumi, but shortly enough, he learned that he and she were probably the most socially compatible. They talked, sure, but they could also sit in comfortable silence; something that was difficult to achieve with the distant and sometimes-cold Ulrich and impossible for the spontaneous Odd.

Right now, though, he was in the cafeteria, his fingers were white-knuckled as he clutched at his tray. Ulrich, Odd, and Yumi had chosen a table together- they were chatting and laughing at Odd as he made some odd gesture with his fork. He considered joining them, shifting his weight from foot to foot.

No, no. It was too risky, too early. He'd make things weird.

Ducking his chin automatically as a boy pushed roughly past him, Jeremie swallowed hard and headed for his usual (empty) table. He sat down and began picking apart the mess of mushy fruit in one portion of his tray.

The ache at the pit of his chest intensified. He jabbed his fork into the probably-once-canned fruit and left it. Why did he even bother coming down? Had he... _wanted_ to see them?

No, that wasn't so. He knew better than to get attached. That summer at camp with Patrick had taught him that.

As he absently prodded at the food he had yet to be able to identify at the other section of his tray, however, there was a clatter that shook his table. Immediately anticipating trouble, Jeremie sprang back out of his seat, his chair squealing on the tile floor as it scraped backwards. He looked up in stunned surprise to see Odd grinning across from him, his hands clasped around the tray he'd slammed down on the table.

"Hell _o_ , Einstein! You missed our table!"

Ulrich and Yumi seated themselves as well, although they did so a tad more quietly.

Jeremie stared blankly at Odd, his mouth agape as he searched for words. "Uh... our table?"

"Yeah!" he chirped, "Our table!"

Ulrich leaned his cheek against his hand, his elbow coming down onto the table. "Yeah, we figured we'd all sit together. If you don't mind, that is."

Finally, Jeremie snapped from his daze. His gaze traveled over each individual's face- from Ulrich's half-amused smile, Odd's wide grin, and Yumi's serious but warm eyes-for any signs that this could be a prank to make him seem foolish.

They wanted to sit with him. He nearly wanted to break into a Cheshire grin like Odd's, but, fighting a little to suppress the urge, he merely offered a small smile. Slowly, he slid back into his seat.

"I wouldn't mind at all."

* * *

This one's a little old, but I thought it didn't sound too bad! I threw in a few headcanons here and there- I always thought it'd be neat for one of the Lyoko warriors (okay, Jeremie technically doesn't fight there but whatever) to have heterochromia iridis!


End file.
